modbender COMMS.md Creator
Generate a structured communication preferences document through guided conversation.
What COMMS.md Is
A queryable personal document that expresses how someone communicates: their natural style, channel preferences, availability rhythms, async voice, and interaction protocols. Designed to be read by both humans and agents before initiating contact.
Workflow
1. Orient
Explain the concept briefly:
"A COMMS.md is a structured doc that captures how you communicate — your style, when you're available, which channels you prefer, how you write in different contexts. Think of it as a user manual for reaching you. Other people (or their agents) can reference it before getting in touch."
2. Interview
Walk through these areas conversationally. Don't dump all questions at once — do 2-3 per turn, adapt based on answers, skip what's clearly not relevant.
Style & strengths (start here — it's introspective and sets the tone):
- What comes naturally when you communicate? (e.g. brevity, storytelling, humor, directness)
- What requires effort? (e.g. small talk, follow-through, emotional labor, context-switching)
- Where does communication break down for you?
Collaboration model:
- What kind of people do you work best with?
- How do you prefer to set up working relationships?
Weekly rhythm:
- Walk through their week: energy, availability windows, protected time
- Which days are meeting-heavy? Which are deep work?
Sync philosophy:
- What are calls for? What are they NOT for?
- How tactical vs. strategic do calls get?
Channel preferences:
- For each situation type (urgent, professional, casual, etc.): what channel, what timing?
- Role of email vs. text vs. voice notes vs. calls?
- How does closeness change channel choice?
- Notification habits, response triage, focus mode patterns
Async voice (this section often needs the most drawing out):
- How do they write to close friends vs. professional contacts?
- Capitalization, punctuation, emoji habits?
- What do they never do in writing? (anti-patterns)
- How do they handle outreach to new people? Re-engaging after silence?
- Do they have a gap between how competent they are and how warm they read? How do they bridge it?
Boundaries:
- What's the fastest way to annoy them?
- What should people never do?
3. Draft
Read references/comms-template.md for the output structure. Generate the COMMS.md using the template, filling in sections from the interview. Use the person's own words and phrasing where possible.
For reference on what a completed COMMS.md looks like, see references/example.md.
4. Review and Iterate
Present the draft and ask what feels off, what's missing, what's too specific or too vague. Expect 1-2 revision rounds. Common adjustments:
- Tone too formal or too casual for how they actually talk
- Missing a channel or context they care about
- Weekly rhythm needs more nuance
- Anti-patterns section needs real examples
5. Place the Document
Ask where they want it saved. Common locations:
- Personal website (for public/professional use)
- Notes app or vault (Obsidian, Notion, etc.)
- Workspace docs (for team use)
Related Skills
- comms-md-reader — the companion skill for reading and adapting to someone else's COMMS.md when drafting outreach
Guidelines
- Use their voice. The doc should sound like them, not like a template. Mirror their register.
- Earn specificity. Generic preferences ("I prefer email for professional stuff") are less useful than specific ones ("Email for intros beyond close friends and anything they'll need to find later").
- Skip irrelevant sections. Not everyone has a weekly rhythm to document or sync philosophy to articulate. Leave out what doesn't apply rather than filling with filler.
- The Async Voice section is the highest-value section for agent consumption. Spend extra time here. This is what another agent reads to calibrate tone when drafting a message to this person.
- Version the output. Include
Version 0.1at the bottom so they can track iterations.